That had been a bad choice after all. They shouldn’t have left on their own. They shouldn’t have wandered blindly into the city, following a glimmer of hope they didn’t even know if they could trust in the first place. Did they have any other choice though? It didn’t matter, it was all over now.

The loud banging on the car windows kept going for several minutes, along with a cacophony of growls and gurgles that seeped into the vehicle from every direction. The endless crowd of shamblers piled up all around and on top of the car, focused only on the tempting treats hiding inside.

“Damn it…!” Nora squeezed the steering wheel in frustration, before turning around to face the other two girls in the backseats. “Please, Claire, you have to stop crying! They’ll never leave us alone like this!”

Claire wasn’t even listening. She was clinging to Lilian with both hands, frantically looking around with tears in her eyes, yelping and screaming at every blow on the windows. Lilian curled up into a ball on her seat even further, mumbling to herself while spacing out.

Nora turned her attention back to the windshield. As much as she berated Claire for her panicked state, she knew it would be futile nonetheless. They were staring at them through the cracked glass. They knew they were in there, and they wouldn’t stop until they had their fill. Every new blow cracked the glass further, made it inch inwards a little bit more. It was a miracle it was still holding out. She fumbled with the car keys once again, her hands slippery with cold sweat. Getting the car running again, and somehow pushing through the crowd, that was their only ticket out.

“Come on, come on, come on…”

The engine made a rattling sound for a couple of seconds. Nothing. Was there really not a single drop of fuel left? Did it really have to run dry in that exact spot? Just when they were so close to making it to their destination? It looked like fate was just laughing at their misfortune.

Again.

…

Nothing. Nora slumped down on her seat. At this point, even the growls, the banging sounds, or Claire’s bawling stopped bothering her.

‘So, this is it… Not the way I was expecting to go…’

She looked up, as the windshield finally started to give in. Their hands started to creep their way into the vehicle, along with an absolutely revolting smell.

‘I’m sorry…’ tears streamed down her face.

*Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!*

A loud ringing sound could suddenly be heard over the screams and the gurgles. Nora’s eyes widened up in disbelief, as the horde of shamblers, equally as confused, turned their attention to the source of the sound. Like a miracle, the crowd slowly creeped away from the car, stumbling and tripping across the street into a nearby building. As she was still trying to understand what was going on, one of the back doors swung open, and Claire rushed out.

“Wait, Claire! It’s not safe out there, get back—!“

“Nora, look!”

Claire was standing right outside the car, pointing to something in front of them. Nora looked forth, squinting her eyes because of the sunlight. About a hundred meters away, was the building they meant to reach before getting surrounded: what looked like a huge apartment building, with clear signs of makeshift fortifications. At street level, a large metal gate was being pulled up, revealing an ominous darkness inside. From one of the windows on the upper floors, a white blanket was hanging out, with two big, sloppy words written on it.

[GET INSIDE]

She wasn’t going to waste that chance. It was do or die. Without a moment of hesitation, Nora bolted out of the vehicle and rushed to get Lilian outside as well.

“Come on, Lilian, it’s gonna be okay now!”

The ringing sound had stopped some moments ago, the growling noises getting louder and louder again.

“Run! To the building! Hurry!!”

******

The man waited until their voices could clearly be heard from the room below.

“Hello!? We’re inside…! Please, help us…!”

“They are getting closer! Please, hurry up!”

He didn’t have time to observe in detail how many people were inside that ruined car. He also had no way to know if all of them had managed to get inside safely. But one way or another, he had to close the gate to keep the shamblers out. With the flip of a switch, the pulley mechanism was released, and the large gate descended, locking the newcomers in the entrance room. They would now be in nearly complete darkness, and probably confused, but that was to be expected. He took his time to make sure that the shotgun was loaded and ready to use, and he proceeded towards the stairs.

As he approached the door at the bottom of the stairs, he swung it open, but didn’t go into the room.

“Can you hear me?”

“T-Thank you for saving us, we were r-really going to die out there!” the voice sounded sniffly, almost stuttering.

“Claire, wait.” that voice was different, more mature. “Listen, we’re grateful for the help, but why would you save someone just to lock them in a cell?”

Besides those two voices, only a third, distant mumbling could be heard. At least three people, although there could be more of them, choosing to stay silent for whatever reason. Should be manageable, but he’d need to ensure his own safety nonetheless.

“Listen closely, I’ll only say this once. I’m armed. If you don’t behave, you’re dead meat. I’ve also rigged a ringing sound trap somewhere in this building, like the one you heard before. If something happens to me, you’ll soon have a couple thousand shamblers climbing up the walls and pouring through the windows. If you know what’s good for you, don’t do anything funny. Understood?”

“Okay, we don’t want any trouble…! We’re just trying to survive here!”

Weapon up front, he walked into the room and flipped a light switch. Without uttering a word, he analyzed the three women staring back at him, visibly nervous. One of them was obviously more mature than the rest, probably in her late twenties. She was standing at the front, shielding the other two. One of the girls fidgeting nonstop with a scared look on her eyes, the other one spaced out and staring at the floor for some reason, but surprisingly calm.

They were all locked behind a rusty iron fence separating the entrance gate from the rest of the room. The fence had a small improvised door, which barely reached waist height; it didn’t look like it was made for people. The side wall had a sturdy door that seemed to lead to a different room. It had no handle, but it did have a keyhole.

“I’ll be blunt: I don’t trust you, and I don’t like you either. Nobody in their right mind would be recklessly driving a car around these days, let alone in the middle of the city. Who are you, and why are you here?”

He got a bit closer to the fence, aiming the shotgun directly at their faces. The spaced-out girl started groaning and becoming slightly agitated.

“S-stop that! You’re making her uncomfortable!” said the other girl, glaring at him. “It’s okay, Lilian… He’s not gonna hurt you, it’s okay…” she petted her head and kept mumbling to her with a sweet voice, which did apparently manage to calm her down a little bit.

‘Annoying bunch… I can already tell they’ll be a burden. Great.’

He stared at the grown woman, as if prompting her to start talking.

“We… saw a trail of smoke. Red smoke, coming from this building, several days ago. We were running away from our previous shelter after it got overrun, and thought we could find more survivors here.”

He really didn’t need to be reminded of the fucking smoke signal. Of all the things he wanted to forget about and leave behind, that one was at the top of the list. His grip on the shotgun tightened, as he frowned at them even more than he did before.

“You really are damn annoying. Maybe I should just get rid of you all, right here, and save me the trouble.” his trigger finger felt jumpy.

“P-please, wait! Why!? We haven’t done anything! And we don’t have anything valuable either!”

…

That bloodshed would indeed be pointless. He lowered his shotgun, and proceeded to drag a couple of baskets towards the waist-high door on the fence. After unbolting it and getting it loose, he kicked them inside the cell.

“Strip. All three of you. Completely. Put everything you have on the empty basket. The other one has clean clothes, you should find something that suits you in there. Their old owners won’t mind if you take it.”

“N-No way!! Nora, he can’t possibly mean this for real, right!?” said Claire, nearly bouncing on the spot.

“Uh… Is there no other way? Can you at least look away…?”

“There isn’t any other way, and yes, I’m going to look. I said I don’t trust you, and I’m going to make sure you don’t have anything that could possibly jeopardize my safety after I let you inside. If you don’t like it, I’m sure the shamblers out there will.”

The subtle banging on the outer metal gate did nothing but reinforce his threat. The women were definitely in no position to negotiate.

‘Yeah, I’ve had enough of trusting people. I’m playing with my own rules. Take it or leave it, your choice.’

…

Those people weren’t ordinary survivors, that was for sure. Clothes that weren’t ragged or torn. Their skin almost clean, as if they had the luxury of keeping proper hygiene until not too long ago. Bad physical shape. No visible wounds or scars. After six months of outbreak? There was no way such a thing was possible.

He kept observing, as they undressed, as they folded their own clothes into the empty basket, as they dressed back… The shy girl, the one named Lilian, seemed to need encouragement and help to do this kind of stuff.

‘That one seems to have some issues, huh…’

It didn’t matter, he would figure it out later if necessary. At that moment, he just wanted to get them out of his sight, for some reason they were irritating him by the second.

After retrieving the baskets, he turned around and grabbed a key from a nearby locker.

“Unlock that door and throw the key back.” he threw the key through the fence. “Don’t bother keeping it, the door will lock again once you close it, and there’s no keyhole on the other side.”

He was armed and they weren’t, so the girls did as instructed and entered the next room without further complaint. The door locked behind them, the sound ringing unnaturally loud in his ears.

‘I’ll definitely have to think this through... Liabilities are the last thing I need.’